Detail of Locust Jones's collaborative work for the Australian Literacy & Numeracy Foundation.

14 February 2011 | Twenty-one young refugee students have had the chance to make a collaborative artwork with Locust Jones, who is known for his searing takes on modern life and politics.

The students – from East Turkistan, Iraq, Vietnam, Sudan, Argentina and Thailand – worked on a 25 metre long canvas with Jones, which tells their stories and celebrates both old and new identities.

“It felt good. It felt like I let something out. Like people are going to see it… now everybody can know what I feel. It was the best day of my life,” says Auday Al‐Sheik, one of the students involved in the project.

The work will now be exhibited in Sydney as part of a two week exhibition, SubText: Art & Literacy, to raise funds for the Australian Literacy & Numeracy Foundation.

The exhibition will also feature work by 17 Australian artists including Jon Campbell, Michael Lindeman, Noel McKenna, Arlene Textaqueen and Jake Walker. Proceeds from the sale of these works will go towards the foundation’s literacy program.

SubText: Art & Literacy opens at CarriageWorks in Sydney on 17 February 2011.

Jane O'Sullivan

Related stories:

Locust Jones is profiled in the current issue of Australian Art Collector (Issue 55, January – March 2011)